


Partners

by BloodWhitePanther



Category: Batman (Movies 1989-1997), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Animated Series, DCU
Genre: Bosses, Gen, Mentors, Partnership
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-15
Updated: 2013-03-15
Packaged: 2017-12-05 08:50:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/721179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodWhitePanther/pseuds/BloodWhitePanther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My thoughts on partnership and why Robin needed to become Nightwing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partners

_Partners._

Lately Dick’s been thinking about what that means.

A partner can be a very good thing to have. Take that night with Tony Zucco, for instance. If either Batman or Robin had gone in alone, Dick doubts that Gotham’s finest would ever have found the body. Dick can’t know the ways this would have changed him, but he knows Bruce, for one, would not have been able to live with that. May even have turned himself in for it. Killing Zucco would have been a purely selfish act for either one of them. An instance of direct and impassioned revenge. A partner can keep you from doing something that irreparably selfish and stupid.

A partner can also be annoying. Say, they treat you like more of sidekick than anything else. Bruce’s way or the highway, and Dick could kind of understand that since he was the interloper. He kind of couldn’t, though, unless ten years meant nothing at all. So yeah, having a partner can be a highly aggravating relationship. He says why and Batman says I can’t tell you. He says oops and Batman says I told you so. He says lets talk and Batman says hn. Having a partner can be the most irritating form of friendship alive. But it will keep you alive.

Having a partner, in this particular case, can also mean having a family. Dick can never forget, can never repay Bruce for taking him in. He can’t even fully appreciate the trust Bruce placed in him when, in a moment of understanding over their shared losses, Batman had lowered the cowl in his presence for first time. No, he can never repay the way Bruce welcomed him into his home. They were Bruce and Dick before they were Batman and Robin and he feels certain they will remain Bruce and Dick long after.

At least he hopes. He hopes desperately that hanging up his cape won’t mean the end of his family. Even at college, Bruce and Alfred were always just a phone call or a bike ride away. Hop a train, call a cab, plug a pay phone, and Bruce was always right there, ready to help.

But a partner is not a boss. He isn’t cold. Self-righteous. Over-protective. If he truly is a partner in all things and not a boss, well then, he doesn’t make all the rules. Call all the shots. Craft all the plans. Put his foot down and become your sanctimonious father. Throw his weight around like the alpha dog and always, _always_ tell you what to do. A boss, by the nature of the word, bosses where a partner would just share the load.

Dick desperately wants what he has always wanted, but he’s beginning to think he can’t have that here.

A partner.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings and concepts belong to the legal copywrite holders. This is a fanwork and I have not profited financially from its creation or distribution.


End file.
